Frozen (photo) cultivation and species
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Moroznik - planting and care, benefits and applications
According to one legend, beautiful flowers grew in the middle of winter near the walls of the barn where Jesus was born. According to another, they blossomed in the place of the tears of the poor girl who fell in the snow, crying because she could not give anything to the newborn son of God.
Since then, it has been a tradition to give bouquets of hellebore for Christmas, which blooms in mid-winter. Not for nothing in England, the plant is called "Christmas" or "Christ rose" (Christmas roses).
Special properties of hellebore
In addition to the foggy mystical, hellebores have quite real medicinal properties. They were discovered back in ancient times, and even then the dangerous effects of the use of drugs from this plant were noted. With hellebore, constipation, paralysis, gout were treated. Overdose often led to dizziness, ringing in the ears, severe thirst, swelling of the oral cavity and larynx, in especially severe cases - to death. There is a version that Alexander the Great died of poisoning by hellebore.
Modern medical research has shown that hellebores are very toxic. The glycosides contained in them have a strong effect on cardiac activity until death. A side effect of ingested hellebore is often diarrhea. This is the basis of the action of diet for weight loss, which includes a geleborus. However, using hellebore for weight loss is about the same as treating a guillotine headache.
The genus Helioborus belongs to the family of Ranunculaceae. In nature, there are about 20 species common in Europe and Asia Minor (Turkey, Syria).
IT IS INTERESTING
- In the Middle Ages, hellebore was considered a magical plant that can protect a home from evil.
- In this connection, a tradition arose to plant them at the gate or the entrance to the house. On the other hand, hellebones were used in dark rituals for the calling of demons.
- Powder from pounded grass supposedly used witches to become invisible.
Reference by topic: Frosts (photo) species, care and reproduction
Spectacular appearance
In addition to pharmacological raw materials, the frosters are beautiful ornamental plants. In the middle of Russia, they blossom in early spring, it is worth to get off the snow. The duration of flowering is not too great, 1-2 weeks, but the structure of the flowers is such that, after the flowering, the plant retains its decorative quality.
The fact is that the role of the petals in hellebores is played by overgrown sepals, immediately after opening the bud they are still quite tender and painted in white, pink, dark cherry or yellow-green tones, sometimes decorated with contrasting spots - "freckles".
At the end of flowering, the sepals coarsen, gradually turn green, but do not lose their shape. This flower structure allows hellebore to remain decorative for a long time. For example, in England, "Christmas roses" bloom in mid-winter, and their delicately bowed leaflets, surrounded by a cup, like petals, delight the eye until spring, successfully combining with blooming primrose and daffodils.
The vultures stand well in the vases, and being dried, they are excellent components of winter bouquets
The look attracts both strong green fleshy stems of hellebore, and their hard large leaves with a beautifully dissected plate, which in many species without hurting themselves winter under the snow.
Where to put hellebore
In the orchards, hellebells prefer semi-shaded places under the canopy of trees and shrubs, they are tolerated also with full shadow.
Soils are required nutrient, clayey, moist, deeply cultivated, with a neutral reaction and good drainage.
A number of species - helleborus fetidus and blushing (Helleborus purpurascens) -can grow well on rather poor sandy soils.
The frosty smell is also drought-resistant.
Dismantle
Frosty black (Helleborus niger), eastern (Helleborus orientalis) and Caucasian (Helleborus caucasicus) can be used for distillation. To do this, in the beginning of autumn rhizomes are excavated from the soil and placed in pots with a nutrient earth mix. They are watered and placed in a cool room on the sun-sills. Watering is carried out with the expectation that the soil does not dry up. Such plants can bloom throughout the winter. In the spring they are again planted in the garden.
Nerf: care
Freezers are unpretentious. With proper care, they can grow in one place for decades, gradually forming extensive curtains. They need weeding, removal of peduncles after they finally lose their decorative effect, in dry, dry weather - in watering.
In spring, after bloom, the soil under the plantings is recommended to be covered with compost or peeled peat. Winter-resistant, most decorative species do not need shelter, except frosts of stinking and Corsican (Helleborus argutifolius or Helleborus corsicus). The named species require easy cover with lapnik and dry leaves.
Division of curtains
Frost replicates by dividing curtains and seeds. Large specimens are divided in early autumn or early spring, before the growth of roots. Frosts do not like transplantation, so you need to disassemble curtains with caution, and young planting must be abundantly watered.
But even with the most careful attitude, plants can not blossom and grow poorly during the next year. Fortunately, death usually does not happen, hellebones will sooner or later become stronger and start to please owners. For the landing, pit is prepared with a diameter and depth of 30 cm, located at a distance of 30-40 cm from each other. In them lay nutrient soil (humus, compost). Abundant watering is shown to young plantations for two to three weeks.
See also: Frost (photo) planting and care, useful properties
Seed reproduction of hellebore
The nerfs grow quite slowly, so a large amount of planting material easier and faster to obtain through seed reproduction. The seeds of these plants mature annually and in a variety, often self-seeding occurs. Freshly harvested seeds are sown at the end of June. In this case, friendly shoots appear next spring, although some seeds can germinate in a year, i.e. in summer. The seeds left for storage a year later almost completely lose their germination capacity.
Deposited seeds need two-stage stratification, which is divided into warm and cold periods. Purchased seeds are sown in the open ground only when there are at least 2,5-3 months left before freezing. In this case, the shoots will appear in a year.
If there is no such a long supply of warm time, the seeds are planted in a pot in a mixture of peat and sand (3: 1) and kept for three months in room conditions (at a temperature of about +20 ° C), then in a refrigerator (at a temperature of about +4 ° WITH). Pots placed in the refrigerator are periodically checked, because seedlings may appear not after three months, but, say, after one. The soil in the pot must be moist.
6 popular hellebore species
Frost-Black
It is found in nature in Central and Southern Europe, in the Caucasus. It has stems up to 30 cm tall and leathery wintering leaves. The flowers are large, up to 8 cm in diameter, white, sometimes slightly pinkish on the outside, with yellow stamens, looking sideways or almost upwards. Very winter hardy look. It blooms in Europe in the middle of winter, in Russia - from the beginning of April. Flowering lasts about two weeks, then the cup turns green, the leaflets begin to develop.
Eastern frostbite
It occurs in Southern Europe and the Caucasus. Stems can reach a height of 50 cm, the leaves are dense, wintering. Flowers up to 7 cm in diameter, ranging in color: from snow-white to greenish-yellow, from tender pink to beet, almost black, drooping.
Sepals are often covered with a small scatter of specks. Most garden hybrids are created on the basis of this species.
Frozen reddish
in nature is found in South-Eastern Europe. Stems 20-40 cm in height, leaves uninhabited. Flowers up to 4 cm in diameter, purple-purple, on the inside with a greenish tinge, drooping, with an unpleasant odor, after blooming are green.
The frostbite is smelly
Distributed in South-Western Europe. A large plant with a powerful leafy stem, reaching a height of 0,8-1 m. For winter, it requires shelter, since the next year's flower-bearing stem grows to 20-30 by the autumn. It is covered with stiff wintering leaves. Flowers are small, but numerous, campanulate, green, often with a reddish-brown edge, odorless. The species easily tolerates drought, prefers soils with an alkaline reaction.
Crowcicle Frozen
It comes from the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. Stems up to 0,8 m in height. Flowers are yellow-green, cup-shaped, collected in large inflorescences. In the central part of Russia, for the winter needs shelter.
Frozen hybrid
Under this name are combined varieties of garden hybrids, which are obtained from crossing natural species of hellebore. Hybrid hellebells are very beautiful and diverse. They differ not only in color, but also in the shape of flowers. In addition to simple anemone and terry varieties were obtained.
Diseases and pests
Nerfs are very resistant to pests and diseases.
Sometimes they are attacked by aphids and slugs.
Of the diseases of danger are fungal: downy mildew and leaf spot.
From false powdery mildew it is helped by spraying with fungicidal preparations.
When the leaves are spotted, immediate removal of all affected leaves is required, followed by their destruction, then they resort to spraying with fungicides or Bordeaux liquid.
In particularly severe cases, affected plants must be excavated and burned.
Reference by topic: Flower hellebore (PHOTO) - the most beautiful varieties
Tips from our readers
Due to their peculiar appearance, frosts are widely used in a variety of garden plantations. They are good in large rock gardens, along the fringes of arboreal and shrubby massifs, under the canopy of large bushes, in floral compositions. O. Svetozarova, Perm
Freezers look wonderful in spring mixborders next to other early-spring plants: bulbous, medunica, bought, peonies, woodruff. Moroznik is the promise of spring! K. Oleneva, Sergiev Posad
Nerf: video
© Author: Marina Novoselova Photo: Yuri Roskov
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The hellebore (Helleborus) is rarely used as a Christmas present. And every year I buy a pot with this plant. And on New Year's holidays on my table, it opens its wonderful flowers.
After flowering, I rearrange the gelleborus on the coldest windowsill and periodically add snow. In March, I send it first to the greenhouse, and then plant it in the garden. Gradually, a whole colony of hellebores formed under the old apple tree. Moreover, they sell mainly black M. in winter, which is not so easy to buy in spring, in contrast to the planting material of M. Caucasian.
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For several years, a hellebore has been growing under the spirea bush, but I never got a good flowering. What is the reason, I cannot understand: it is shady and cool here. I only suspect that the spirea takes food from the hellebore. And if you transplant, then I would like to divide the bush at the same time. When is it better to do it? What soil to plant?
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- Most likely, the plant lacks light and nutrition. The hellebore needs partial shade, in full shade it practically does not bloom. The plant prefers clay, moist, drained, well-fertilized soil. You need to process it to a depth of 30-40 cm. You can divide the rhizome in August-September. In wet areas, it is advisable to pour drainage material (gravel, expanded clay) at the bottom of the planting pit. The removed garden soil is usually filled with rotted manure or two to three year old compost. Lime, chalk or dolomite flour are added on acidic soils (we published the table of application rates in No. 13. Ed.).
IMPORTANT!
When planting, the root collar should be slightly below ground level.
In the first month, the soil in the root zone must be kept moist.
Be prepared for the fact that after dividing the hellebore will be "brooding" and without flowers next season. In the spring, the delenki can be fed with full complex fertilizer (according to the instructions). And moisten the soil during the season.
Valentina SIMKOVICH
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When can I divide the bushes? And will very small delenki bloom?
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- Stability, endurance and durability - a characteristic feature of hellebores. And also a dislike for division and transplants. Some of them carry the division very hard, while others do not even notice. In spring, M. black can be divided, and in autumn
- M. east. My experience shows: the less you pay attention to a planted hellebore, the better. If the dividend is small, the bush can grow for a long time, fighting for life, and not bloom for several years, but will not die, even if rooted to the ground, for example, in a small container. Hellebores grow at different speeds, and, of course, the longer they sit in one place, the more beautiful they become.
Elena POTAPOVA, collector, Moscow
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Please tell us when and how to plant hellebores, in what soil?
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- You can plant a seedling even now, if it grows in a container. At this time, seeds collected after ripening are sown. In March-April of next year, shoots will appear, which should be dived and a couple of years to grow. A 2-3-year-old bush then transfers the transplant to the garden more easily. And it’s better to plant immediately in a permanent place. But we must take into account that plants from seeds may not repeat parental qualities.
I planted freezers in my garden a very long time ago. They grow quite slowly. The seedlings, which were larger and stronger, are now large and beautiful. And those that were weak, because they often acquired them in the form of "microscopic scraps", give one peduncle. Many died, most of them brought from England and Germany. Often, those that bought from us turned out to be re-grading. Plants are not demanding on the soil at all - they can grow on any: acidic, neutral, and even alkaline. I have loam, northeast of the Moscow region. When planting, add a little complex fertilizer to the planting pit, straighten the roots.
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When I saw a neighbor in the garden with flowers, which began to open literally under the snow cap, she certainly wanted the same. My neighbor is kind, so I immediately dug out a piece of a bush that has not yet begun to bloom. I sprinkled the slices of the section with crushed activated charcoal and planted them on a sunny spot on a hill so that the plant would not suffer from stagnation of water. As her neighbor said, hellebore (that is the name of that wonderful plant) should be immediately planted in a permanent place, because he does not tolerate transplants. The flower got along without problems. In the fall, I poured bone meal under the bush and wrapped it in peat. The next spring hellebore blossomed! What a beauty it was! Now every spring I admire him!
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Spring Flower - Hellebore
Hellebore is a small perennial plant that blooms in early spring, immediately after snowdrops, with flowers of spectacular shades. It looks best in group plantings and often propagates by self-sowing.
Hellebore grows best in partial shade. It is necessary to monitor the soil moisture - the plant does not tolerate drought. He likes fertile soil with a neutral reaction. On acidic soils in the area, wood ash or bone meal must be added in advance and subsequently regularly fertilized with these components. Leaving is a regular watering and weeding. After flowering, you need to mulch the bushes with humus, and for the winter cover with dry foliage. Hellebore is propagated by dividing bushes and fresh seeds. They must be sown from July to October in open ground to a depth of 1-1,5 cm. Seedlings appear next spring. In the phase of two real leaves, I plant them in a temporary bed, and after a year, into a permanent place. Young seedlings and divided bushes bloom after a few years.